I made a mix for a co-worker of my girlfriend. It's nothing overly challenging. It's mainly a mix to try and draw people into different music. The mix gets played at their work quite a bit now but i was just informed by my girlfried that a different co-worker told her that "all the songs sound like radiohead" and "what, are they all just a bunch of wannabes?".

Here is the tracklisting

1. The Wrens - Happy
2. Travis - Re-Offender
3. The decemberists - the bachelor and the bride
4. Broken Social Scene - looks just like the sun
5. Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
6. Blur - Battery in your leg
7. TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
8. Air - Cherry Blossom Girl
9. The Damnwells - sleepsinging
10. The Stills - Still in Love song
11. Wheat - I met a girl
12. Ride - Vapour Trail
13. South - Loosen your hold
14. The Shins - Kissing the Lipless
15. Grandaddy - Now It's On
16. The Long Winters - Cinnamon
17. Belle & Sebastian - Dirty Dream #2
18. Seafood - Pleasurehead
19. The Decemberists - Red Right Ankle
20. The Shins - New Slang

I was shocked and a little pissed about this judgement. Considering the girl, to my knowledge, doesn't know crap about music other than liking Radiohead (and it may only be The Bens era as far as i can tell).

I see the Travis connection and maybe the blur tune but i'd hardly say those songs are radiohead rip offs.

Am i missing something here?

ps. - i broke the one song per artist rule. i do that often for newbies.

she's got her head up her ass.

How exactly would Belle & Sebastian sound like Radiohead to...um...anyone who can hear?

She's a dumbass.

Plain and simple.

There's no way Wilco or The Wrens, Wheat etc sound like Radiohead.

That is a mix anyone should be proud of... sounds like a great stocking stuffer.

she's an idiot. you could maybe make an argument that two or three of those bands sound like radiohead, but that's it.

That Wheat tune may not sound like Radiohead, but it sure is annoying as gawdawful helll

She obviously doesn't have another point of reference if she says all those bands sound like Radiohead. You could always be an ass and ask "How are they like Radiohead?" She'll either squirm in confusion, or poop out something completely nonsensical.

that could be one of the best mixes ever!

More proof that most people are either incapable or uninterested in understanding music. Most people are only looking for something nice to fill the backgrounds of their lives, and perhaps something with a beat to dance to once in a while. Music to them is not an artform - it is more like a utilitarian object: something needed (or not) to fill a specific role.

I agree, this is a kickass newbie mix, though.

The girl is stupid, plain and simple.

I've tried playing other stuff at my work only to hear:

"this sounds like funeral music" about Jeff Buckley

"johnny cash sucks"

"what is this crap" by a guy who loves radiohead when i tried to play the new interpol.

so i usually just stick with either some 80's, oldies (sinatra & stuff) or old R&B mixes when i'm at work. the general public has awful taste in music.

i think that you people are being a bit too harsh on this woman. if she's thinking about radiohead as one of the popularizers of brit-pop, then yeah, a lot of these admittedly good songs would seem pretty derivative. i think that it's more likely that she's just tired of her co-worker playing this all the time and wanted to say something mean.

She prefers to play Brittney Spears at work (her next favorite), despite Radiohead being her favorite band of all time.

The next time i she her i'll try and find out what other music she likes.

TO be honest i'm not sure how often the mix is played at work because the girl who the mix is for works in a different section. It may not get played in my girlfriends area that often, but then again it may.

you should put her head on a stake in the middle of the room as a warning to others who are thinking about criticizing your mixes.

I guess it's one thing to say you don't like a mix, but to make commments that show you're ignorant of music is even worse.

I once spent the better part of a week making 5 mix CD's for a friend who was sick of the CD's she had. All were themed, and drawing for the more accessible areas of Indie rock. She hated them all. Almost broke my heart.

I would tell her to listen to them again, and focus on the songs, not just have them as background.

I made a mix for a friend in college years ago because they were complaining about music. This person was a Nirvana fan so i decided to put some Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, Blac Flag, The Jesus Lizard, Helmet etc, etc, etc.

He hated the mix except for one song that i threw on because i had just got it on a alternative press (the mag) and it had a catchy tune from this unknown band Blink 182.

It still pisses my off that he hated everything except for the 182 song, and that i've actually but a blink 182 song on a mix.

I've stopped making mixes for some friends because they've complained about the other mixes I've given them.

This person should be shot. The sooner, the better.

...and on some other forum, someone has started a thread bitching about me making an ignorant statement about cars.

sometimes i can't understand how people won't like certain songs or even worse when they don't like a song until it's on the radio.

I made a party mix for a friend and put "float On" and "take me out" on them. He didn't like the mix or the songs and then one day he asks if i've heard of Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand. I tell him yes, don't you remember the mix i made you months ago with those songs.

Now he loves the songs.

What's funny is that i always seem to be the guy that people will come up to and start talking to about engines or motorcycles and i never know what they're talking about. Thankfully i decided to just let people know instead of nodding with approval. I'll flat out say, "I have no idea what you're talking about". I just get the look of disbelief.

i know better than to try and figure out the many small and stupid reasons people wont listen to anything that isnt on top 40 radio.

I think I understand what the co-worker is saying. But it's not so much that all those bands sound the same as Radiohead, just that there is a shared tendency towards effete pseudo-intellectual posturing and a conscious avoidance of rock convention.

But that's just my opinion, and I don't like that mix at all.